trailsfandomcom-20200214-history
Murdock
Factory Chief Murdock is the director of Central Factory in the town of Zeiss. As the person in charge of the business that pretty much defines the town, Murdock also acts as the de facto mayor of the city, dealing with complaints and concerns from the citizens like other mayors do. Since he also has to run the factory, this means he's an extremely busy man. After Estelle and Joshua make it to Zeiss and discuss the matter of the black orbment with Kilika, the guild manager, she gives them a letter of introduction so they can speak with Murdock. When they arrive in his office, Murdock welcomes them, revealing the fact that Cassius Bright is the factory's benefactor who is frequently called on whenever the factory faces difficulties. Upon hearing about the black orbment the bracers have brought along, Murdock first has a look at it himself, but cannot tell Estelle and Joshua much about it other than the fact it has no caliber inscribed on it, nor does it have a maintenance cover or seams, all which set it apart from an ordinary orbment. Upon reading the note that came with the orbment that mentions a "Professor R", Murdock mentions that it's probably Professor Russell, though he shows reluctance in letting the brilliant, yet eccentric professor handle the orbment. While discussing Russell, Murdock cannot suppress a tone of wistfulness, suggesting that Russell's days of revolutionizing the industry are a thing of the past. Most likely, Russell nowadays prefers to dedicate his time to things that interest him, rather than what the company needs, as shown by him dropping out of the Arseille's engine project after finishing the central drive orbment, despite the fact he was supposed to be on board until the end. Despite this, he nevertheless calls Tita and asks her to take the bracers to Professor Russell's house. Murdock quickly comes to rue this decision as Russell's measuring scan of the black orbment accidentally triggers it, causing a massive orbal blackout throughout both the town and the factory. Instinctively knowing the likely culprit behind the blackout, Murdock angrily heads to Russell's house and starts chewing him out, mentioning that the professor frequently causes trouble with his inventions these days, although he does calm down a bit upon learning that it was the black orbment that caused the blackout. The next day, business goes on as usual for Murdock, although the blackout has now left him with a large number of complaints from the citizens to deal with as well. After having a meeting with Hugo about the continuing shortage of staff on the Arseille project, he receives a message from Elmo about the village pump having broken down and since Russell was the one who built and maintains that pump, Murdock approaches him with the request to fix it. Since Russell still has his hands full with the black orbment, Tita offers to go in his stead with Estelle and Joshua accompanying her. Before setting off for Elmo, Estelle, Joshua and Tita take up an investigation job commissioned by Miriam, the doctor in charge of the factory clinic, to discover the identity of the person who swiped a pack of cigarettes from the clinic's cabinet where confiscated cigarettes are kept. Doctor Miriam immediately points to the senior staff, since people who've worked at the factory longest tend to be more prone to smoking, but it turns out that none of her suspects were guilty. Instead, the "eyewitness" to the event, Antoine the cat, points out Murdock as the culprit. Pressed by Joshua to apologize to Doctor Miriam, Murdock explains that the craving for a smoke got the better of him due to the stress of having to deal with all the complaints about the blackout. Realizing that her boss didn't mean to cause any harm, Miriam lets him off the hook on the condition that he'll take a vacation after the commotion dies down, to which he agrees. The rest of the day is fairly uneventful for Murdock, but the day afterwards, he and the rest of the staff are unexpectedly faced with what appears to be a gas leak as the entire building suddenly fills up with smoke. Hurriedly evacuating, Murdock holds a quick head count and finds all full-time staff accounted for, but when Tita, Estelle and Joshua arrive and Tita asks about her grandfather, it turns out that the professor remained behind. Not missing a beat, the bracers and Tita hurry into the factory, but the first people who come running out of the factory soon after aren't the bracers, but a group of soldiers dressed as royal guardsmen. Murdock and the rest of the staff doesn't realize that something was wrong until Estelle, Joshua, Tita and Agate come out of the building as well and react with shock upon hearing about the soldiers carrying a large bag. After an emergency meeting between himself, the bracers and Captain Amalthea of the intelligence division, Murdock decides to keep Russell's kidnapping a secret in order to avoid panic and give the bracers and the army space to conduct their investigations. The next day, however, Murdock receives another unpleasant surprise when Estelle and Joshua return from a visit to Leiston Fortress and present proof that it was actually the army that kidnapped Russell to begin with. With the bracers starting preparations to infiltrate the fortress, Kilika asks Murdock if they can count on the factory's assistence, which Murdock agrees to without hesitation. While the bracers set up a plan of attack to tackle the rescue mission, Murdock talks to maintenance chief Gustav and has them manufacture a decoy crate to smuggle the bracers into the fortress. Estelle, Joshua, Tita and Agate eventually manage to make their way into the fortress' research wing, rescuing the professor and retrieving the stolen processing unit as well. Realizing that the army will most likely conduct a full investigation, Murdock orders the Capel unit to be hidden and the decoy crate dismantled before the army can find incriminating evidence. Estelle and Joshua run into Murdock again after winning the martial arts competition and receiving an invitation to a banquet in the castle, where he assures them that they were able to succesfully cover their tracks. Murdock, as mayor of one of Liberl's five cities and a member of the Royal Assembly, turns out to have been forcefully invited as well to bear witness to the news of the queen planning to abdicate and Duke Dunan succeeding her. Like all the others in attendence, Murdock is shocked by the news and eventually relieved when the announced abdication ends up being reversed. During the birthday festivities, Murdock is found at the Fisherman's Guild where he's admiring some fishing rods, hinting at the fact that he's an avid angler himself when given the opportunity. Like many at Central Factory, Murdock is an engineer himself who displays a strong professional curiosity about the black orbment as well. While he started out as one of the many engineers who learned their craft from Professor Russell when he set up Central Factory, Murdock eventually succeeded Russell as head of the factory and has been in charge of the company for 20 years. While not blessed with the prodigious intelligence of Professor Russell, Murdock is a much better manager than his mentor, his down-to-earth personality making him a capable person to run both the factory and the town. While Murdock has a lot of professional respect for Professor Russell, his mentor's personal quirks and reckless nature when conducting experiments drives him up the wall at times, though he's not one to hold a grudge for long. Relations Murdock is the successor of Professor Russell Category:NPCs Category:NPCs (Zeiss) Category:NPCs (Grancel) Category:NPCs (Chapter 3 FC) Category:NPCs (Chapter 4 FC) Category:Central Factory